Jeff
Sessions is out of office, Rep. Duncan Hunter is under indictment and
former Sheriff Joe Arpaio won a presidential pardon, but hasn’t won
much else. President Trump’s earliest supporters have not fared
well, for the most part. The travails of those who worked for Mr.
Trump’s 2016 campaign have been well documented. Former Chairman
Paul Manafort is in jail, snared by special counsel Robert Mueller’s
probe. Former national security aide Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to
lying to investigators and turned state’s evidence. Top strategist
Stephen K. Bannon took a White House job, then lost it. But those
kinds of shakeups happen in any campaign or White House. A remarkable
run of ill luck has befallen many of the politicians who backed Mr.
Trump. The only two members of Congress indicted since 2017 happen to
be the two who first endorsed Mr. Trump. Another lost her seat in a
Republican primary just months after backing Mr. Trump. The only
senator to endorse him, Mr. Sessions, was unceremoniously ousted as
attorney general last year. “Because of Trump, a lot of people had
to suffer,” said Mr. Arpaio, the former sheriff of Maricopa County,
Arizona, who became the president’s first high-profile backer in
January 2016. “Although on a smaller scale, I’m a good example of
that. I feel for some of these guys; they are going after them to get
to him.” Months after Mr. Arpaio backed Mr. Trump, he would be
indicted by the Obama Justice Department on charges of criminal
contempt of court. He would then lose his bid for re-election in
November.